At our recent breakfast event we asked HR, talent management and business leaders to describe their expectations for 2020 in one word.

Hardly any one word was used twice but the tenor and sentiment were similar across the board with most describing the upcoming 12 months as ‘uncertain’, ‘ambiguous’ or ‘transformational’. We can assume that if HR professionals feel this way about the upcoming year, then their people are also likely to feel this way.

Overall, the perceived speed of change and level of unpredictability is increasing. This has several consequences. For businesses this means it is becoming more and more challenging to anticipate shifts and transitions in customer and talent needs and behaviours. For employees this means there is a higher need to be able to adapt in the moment and exhibit learning agility throughout their careers while having to also deal with constant change. ​In short, leading in a digital VUCA world is likely to influence current and future competency models of companies more strongly and what businesses will look for in their people when assessing or developing them.

Amir MorshedManaging Director & Co-Founder

Case Studies

Tom SiddleSenior Consultant

Femy vayaJunior consultant

Tara CherniawskiDirector of Consulting

2020 TALENT PRODUCT TRENDS​

Here at Propel, we are incredibly excited about the future of the talent product industry, and this is our view on some of the upcoming product trends we are likely to see in 2020: ​

1| Wider Use of Artificial Intelligence (AI)AI remains an exciting growth area in talent assessment and development, and we expect 2020 to bring more AI-powered assessment solutions, in addition to extended use of chatbot applications (built on AI technology) in recruitment, development and coaching.

4| Assessment of Soft Skills: Emotional Intelligence​Emotional Intelligence becomes an increasingly important skill in 2020 as agile, team-based working increases and interdisciplinary teams need to connect, collaborate and deliver over shorter timeframes. To manage the pressures created by new working environments and modes of communication, individuals need to be resilient and able to manage their emotions. 2020 is likely to reveal a big focus on the assessment and development of EI, through tools such as the EIP from Propel’s partner, PSI.

7| Improving Talent Mobility​With 61% organisations reporting that open vacancies remain their biggest talent acquisition challenge, internal talent mobility is of increasing strategic importance. This means being able to accurately identify talent pools, targeting development to close gaps as quickly as possible so that pipelines remain strong and move quickly.

2| Leveraging Talent Data to provide insights​Whilst a trend that has been around for a while, there is growing recognition of the value of people data in the form of talent analytics. Organisations are increasingly finding ways to improve the quality of the data that they gather (for example, through assessment) and leveraging it to improve processes and answer key organisational questions. One key barrier to analysing talent data can be the multiple platforms on which data is collected. The Propel Talent Portal allows for the effective capture and integration of assessment data from multiple providers across all stages of the talent lifecycle.

5| Problem Solving and the Criticality of Critical Thinking​In a world of big data, fake news, and constant change, the ability to be able to extract important information from data, determine what sources of information are valid and what should be ignored, is key. The assessment of these skills through ability testing, as well as the development of critical thinking techniques, is likely to be a trend for 2020.

8| Diversity and Cultural Intelligence​For many of our Clients diversity and inclusion remain central concerns, both from a moral and commercial perspective. There has been an increased awareness of the impact of bias on decision-making in organisations, and we expect to see a further increase in focus on these areas in 2020. We increasingly see organisations moving to ‘blind recruitment’ i.e. removing personally identifiable data from the selection process (such as name, gender, ethnicity, education), and increasing the use of objective assessment using fair, well-validated tools.

3| Identifying the Ability to Learn​With data showing that by 2022, 42% of core skills required to perform existing jobs are expected to change, growth mindset, adaptability and learning agility are crucial to the success of today’s employees and organisations. Propel’s partners’ tools such as AQai’s Adaptability Quotient (AQ) assessmentand Cognadev’s Cognitive Process Profilecan provide insights into the ability of employees, and organisations, to learn new skills and effectively adapt to change.

6| Consumer-Grade Candidate ExperienceJob applicants are used to interacting with technology as consumers, and the expectations created by these interactions extend to recruitment. In a competitive talent marketplace, this all matters. And not just because you have happy candidates who are more likely to accept a job offer: candidates’ recruitment experience may also impact on employee engagement and their behaviour in role. Often online assessment processes can involve candidates completing assessments on a number of platforms creating friction in the process and potentially turning off the best talent; Propel’s Talent Portal allows candidates to complete assessments from multiple providers through one platform with a single set of login details.

9| Continuous performance management​The era of the annual appraisal is over. Organisations are now moving towards continuous performance management and feedback and tools that support this, such as 360 pulse surveys.

Want to find out more about how Propel’s solutions support these trends? Reach out!

Philippa RileyProduct Development Director

Propel Events

Propel Breakfast Club With KAy And Tom

It was my pleasure to visit our Dubai office to co-present at the Propel breakfast club with my colleague Tom Siddle. The topic for the event was Talent Management Trends in 2020. ​We gave a high-level overview of four topics:

Digitisation. How technology can help automate HR processes?

Managing Diverse Workforces. How to engage and motivate different generations?

The 2020 Work-Week. When does work stop and relaxation start given the ‘always on’ culture?

People Analytics. How to best use data to inform talent acquisition and development?

​These were some of the common trends we saw, and were echoed in the room by our clients, who added that many of their organisations were going through various types of change initiatives and that consequently cost-optimisation and ‘productivity’, i.e. how to best increase it, was another important key challenge for 2020.

This in turn fits in with the importance of using data to understand the profiles of their most productive employees and trying to hire with those profiles in mind or being able to create acceleration programmes for that type of top talent. This in turn is one of the core areas of our expertise and entails the majority part of the work we do here at Propel.

Meet A PROPELLER

Lanita NoronhaEvents and Marketing Coordinator

What do you believe is the biggest challenge in talent management today?

People are the primary foundation of any organisation. In my opinion, the biggest challenge in Talent Management in the current situation is acknowledging the value of these individuals. It is essential to share the feedback and appraisals regularly to maintain high morale of employees.​

What pioneering projects are you working on currently?​

My primary project which I’m also very passionate about is bringing the like-minded HRleaders in the industry together through events to share the expertise of our teammates on various talent management solutions and help them build for the future.

Why are you passionate about Propel?​

It has almost been a year since I began my journey at Propel International, where I was given the gift of continued learning. The team at Propel believes in contributing to the growth of every individual professionally and personally. I foresee an exciting journey full of rewarding challenges, gaining exposure through supportive leaders and growing with Propel. ​